The present disclosure relates to chairs for patients having limited mobility. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to arm chairs that allow for easy ingress and egress of a patient.
Special considerations are needed when designing chairs for patients having limited mobility. Sometimes, such chairs have wheels so that the patient can be transported from one place to another. Such chairs are sometimes also capable of reclining to provide comfort to the patient. Oftentimes, such chairs will have armrests on either side of the chair to keep the patient seated safely on the chair and to provide a surface upon which the patient may rest his or her arm while the patient, for example, has blood drawn or an IV inserted.
When a patient has limited mobility, it is difficult to move the patient onto and off of the chair if the chair has armrests. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a chair having at least one moveable armrest that allows the patient to move laterally onto and off of the side of the chair, which is easier for the patient than moving onto and off of the front of the chair.
In some such chairs having moveable armrests, the armrest is capable of swinging about a vertical axis to allow ingress and egress laterally to and from the side of the chair. Other chairs provide for telescoping of an upper part of the armrest into a recessed area in a lower part of the armrest. Other chairs have an armrest that can be removed completely from the side of the chair.